The Minnesota Twins have traded infielder Eduardo Escobar to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three minor leaguers.
Escobar, 29, has a .274/.338/.514 slash line this season and leads the majors with 37 doubles. He has played third base, shortstop and second base this season and gives the Diamondbacks a desired offensive upgrade.
The Diamondbacks trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by 1.5 games in the NL West entering Friday's slate. They also are a half-game behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL wild-card race.
"We're really excited about Eduardo Escobar,'' Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "He's got a tremendous track record in this game, he's a great teammate, he's a great player. He'll fit right in.''
Arizona ranks seventh in the National League with 461 runs and 12th in the league with a .705 team OPS. In addition, third baseman Jake Lamb, who left Thursday's game against the Chicago Cubs with a shoulder contusion, was placed on the 10-day disabled list.
Escobar will "get a lot of reps at third base,'' Lovullo said.
"We know that he's a very capable middle infielder as well but we acquired him to shore up what's going on at third base. Jake Lamb gets banged up and he's a great guy for us to have step right in.''
Escobar broke into pro ball with the Chicago White Sox as an international free agent out of his native Venezuela in 2006 and came to Minnesota in 2012 as part of a trade for pitcher Francisco Liriano.
Pitcher Jhoan Duran, outfielder Ernie De La Trinidad and outfielder Gabriel Maciel will be going to the Twins in exchange for Escobar.
THANK YOU Minnesota! I want to say thank you to my family, Twins front office, teammates, coaches, trainers and friends who day after day supported me and challenged me to be a better baseball player, a better person. Know that the Twins will always mean a lot to me. Wearing > pic.twitter.com/PGCdgbRj4Q
— eduardo jose escobar (@escobarmaracay) July 27, 2018
Two sources said the popular Escobar learned of the trade on television in the Twins clubhouse before the medical reviews were complete, and he was brought into manager Paul Molitor's office and told the reports were accurate.
The trade inadvertently leaked in the media before it was official, the sources said.
Escobar had been listed in the Twins' starting lineup for Friday's game against the Red Sox.
The Diamondbacks also recalled infielder Ildemaro Vargas from Triple-A Reno and designated Jack Reinheimer for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.